Overseas Truckers In The US?

Hi guys.

A quick rundown on me first before I get into my Question. I'm a 33 yr old white guy from New Zealand with a bad case of travelers itch. I'm always wanting to see new places and meet new people. I was in China teaching English for 13 months and exploring the country during their school holidays.

I'm about to start a new job here in NZ as a Beekeeper, which would involve getting my NZ Class 2 drivers licence, and likely Class 3, as covered by the employer. Class 2 is a rigid cab/chassis truck of 2 axles and under 18 tons (18000Kg) and Class 3 is light combination, rigid and trailer or articulated 5th wheel tractor under 18 tons.

The thing is the beekeeper job is seasonal over the spring/summer/autumn but not winter. so at the end of the NZ autumn, the start of the US summer I will be free with a Class 2. from there it is pretty simple to do a course, paid for by govt subsidized loan, to get a Class 4 (heavy rigid over 18 tons) and 5 (heavy combination over 18 tons) licence plus a D endorsement (Dangerous goods).

I read that there is a scarcity of truckers in the US and it is gettign worse. Would a NZ class 5 be recognized by the DOT and US trucking firms and is the trucker shortage enough to be on a US Immigration skills shortage list to enable a work permit to be obtained without hiving some immigration lawyer your firstborn?

Trucking seems a good way to see the country for a few years while being paid.

What are the rules on foreign workers who aren't Mexican lettuce pickers and maids?

Cheers guys.

Rhys

Welcome aboard Rhys!

No, the U.S. does not recognize any outside licenses, and from what I've seen you would have to have a regular U.S. driver's license for one year before anyone would hire you to drive a tractor trailer. So you would have to get your Green Card and live here for a year. Then you would get your Commercial Driver's License and you would be able to find work.

I really have no idea how long it would take to get a Green Card. I've never looked into that.

Hi Brett, thanks for the welcome.

Looks like I would be best advised to look at the Canadian harvest companies then, plenty of adverts in the farming papers here running along the lines of "Got your Class 5? Want to see North America? Come haul wheat and grain in Canada and the USA this season"

A cousin of mine did that, got asked by a few firms while there to stay on and do ice road trucking in the winter but he came home instead, reckoned it's too cold to hang around somewhere willy...

Not the best way to see the country, working every day it's dry, pre-dawn to after dark and only seeing the stretch of road between the grain field and the silos until time to move to the next farm.

Still, if they advertise for NZ Class 5, they must be able to convert that to a Canadian licence without too much fuss, and then since they head down across the border following the ripening grain, they must have some way of getting an US CDL out of a Canadian licence. And Craig reckons it is good money too.

That should be enough experience in the US following the harvest to show an OTR company that it's possible to pilot a LHD truck despite coming from a RHD country :)

I really don't know anything about the Canadian laws to be honest with you so I can't speak to that. They may indeed have a way of getting you setup in Canada first. But I know the U.S. laws and having a Canadian license or a NZ license won't do you any good here. It won't help you get a U.S. license and the work you do outside of the U.S. won't count as experience to companies in the U.S.

So you might want to look into the Canadian Harvest idea. That might work. But to get a U.S. license and a job with a U.S. company you're going to have to get a Green Card for the U.S. and live here for a year with a regular driver's license. Companies in the U.S. simply do not recognize anything outside of the U.S. as far as driving experience or licenses.

I'll have to ask my cousin next time I see him, I do know he went to Canada with only a NZ licence, had a couple of weeks pre-season in Canada and paid off in the states at the end of the season somewhere south of Illinois with a couple of weeks left on his visa to explore on.

Whether the Canadian company trusts NZ driver training and counts NZ experience, then helps their employees sit the Canadian and US licences, I don't know. But I know he did work in the US as well as Canada.

Have to catch up with him and have a chat sometime.

I don't know the Green Card answers either, but I can tell you, I encounter a LOT of foreign nationals driving. Eastern European, Middle Eastern and Indian drivers are very, very common.

Good luck!